A range of critics, including the office of Canada’s privacy commissioner, is urging the Conservative government to change its digital privacy bill, warning it will open the door to private companies swapping personal information of clients and others without any consent or notification.

Bill S-4 is aimed at overhauling the rules for online privacy, giving new power to the Privacy Commissioner and introducing new penalties for privacy breaches. Parts of it have broad support, and it is one of a handful of new bills before Parliament with implications over how Canadians’ private online information can be handled and shared.